The builder who died was in his 50s and eating his lunch at the wheel of his VW Transporter when the 60ft oak crashed down. Incredibly, his passenger survived – having bent forward to pick up a dropped lighter in the footwell at the moment of impact.

Residents in Tunbridge Wells were able to pull him from the wreckage of the van – which belonged to family building firm C A Hayes of nearby Tonbridge – but the driver was pronounced dead by paramedics.